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Constellation Brands Lifts Its Stake in Canopy Growth to Nearly 40%

The alcoholic beverage maker has been steadily increasing its share of the cannabis company since late 2017.

Eric has been writing about stocks and finance since the mid-1990s, when he lived in Prague, Czech Republic. Over the course of a varied career, he has also been a radio newscaster, an investment banker, and a bass player in a selection of rock and roll bands. A native New Yorker, he currently lives in Los Angeles.

Alcoholic beverage maker Constellation Brands(NYSE:STZ) has boosted its equity holding in Canopy Growth(NYSE:CGC), both companies announced in a joint press release issued on Friday.

This was effected through a set of warrants Constellation received in late 2017, when it first began investing in Canopy Growth. At the time, it purchased a roughly 9.9% stake in the marijuana company, a level that has steadily grown since then. With its latest move, Constellation owns 38.6% of Canopy Growth's issued and outstanding common shares.

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Constellation, through a fully owned subsidiary, exercised nearly 18.9 million warrants at a price of just under 12.98 Canadian dollars ($9.21) apiece, for a total of around CA$245 million ($174 million).

It still has the power to lift that much higher, as it continues to hold a large portfolio of warrants in the marijuana company. Following this new investment, it has nearly 139.75 million of them; if all were exercised, Constellation would own about 55.8% of Canopy Growth.

"While global legalization of cannabis is still in its infancy, we continue to believe the long-term opportunity in this evolving [marijuana] market is substantial," Constellation said in the press release.

"Canopy is best positioned to win in the emerging cannabis space, and we are confident in the strategic direction of the company under David Klein and his team," it added, referring to the recently installed Canopy Growth CEO who was previously Constellation's CFO.

Both companies fell harder than the broader stock market on Friday, with Constellation dropping 1.9% and Canopy Growth sliding by 4.6%.